* * * * *

Americanization seems, from the present document, to consist of, first, making as many influential friends as possible who may be able to help you at some future time; second, making as much money as possible (young Edward used his position as stenographer to Jay Gould to glean tips on the market, thereby cleaning up for himself and his Sunday-school teacher at Plymouth Church), and third, keeping your eye open for the main chance.

In conclusion, nothing more fitting could be quoted than the touching caption under the picture of the author’s grandmother, “who counselled each of her children to make the world a better and more beautiful place to live in—­a counsel which is now being carried on by her grandchildren, one of whom is Edward Bok.”

Could detachment of author and hero be more complete?

XLIII

ZANE GREY’S MOVIE

The hum of the moving-picture machine is the predominating note in “The Mysterious Rider,” Zane Grey’s latest contribution to the literature of unrealism.  All that is necessary for a complete illusion is the insertion of three or four news photographs at the end, showing how they catch salmon in the Columbia River, the allegorical floats in the Los Angeles Carnival of Roses and the ice-covered fire ruins in the business section of Worcester, Mass.

In order that the change from book to film may be made as quickly as possible, the author has written his story in the language of the moving-picture subtitle.  All that the continuity-writer in the studio will have to do will be to take every third sentence from the book and make a subtitle from it.  We might save him the trouble and do it here, together with some suggestions for incidental decorations.

Remember, nothing will be quoted below which is not in the exact wording of Zane Grey’s text.  We first see Columbine Belllounds, adopted daughter of old Belllounds the rancher of Colorado.  She is riding along the trail overlooking the valley.

“TODAY GIRLISH ORDEALS AND GRIEFS SEEMED BACK IN THE PAST:  SHE WAS A WOMAN AT NINETEEN AND FACE TO FACE WITH THE FIRST GREAT PROBLEM IN HER LIFE.” (Suggestion for title decoration:  A pair of reluctant feet standing at the junction of a brook and a river.)

She stops to pick some columbines and soliloquizes.  The author says:  “She spoke aloud, as if the sound of her voice might convince her,” but it is not clear from the text just what she expected to be convinced of.  Here is her argument to herself: 

“COLUMBINE!...  SO THEY NAMED ME—­THOSE MINERS WHO FOUND ME—­A BABY—­LOST IN THE WOODS—­ASLEEP AMONG THE COLUMBINES.” (Decorative nasturtiums.)

Having convinced herself in these reassuring words as she stands alone on the ridge in God’s great outdoors, she explains that she has promised to marry Jack Belllounds, the worthless son of her foster-father, although any one can tell that she is in love with Wilson Moore, a cow-puncher on the ranch.  You will understand what a sacrifice this was to be when the author says that “the lower part of Jack Belllounds’s face was weak.”